2. A utopian future
• The future that we see in Star Trek still has
its challenges, but in general... life is good
• There’s no poverty or hunger
• Countries (and worlds) coexist in peace
• Diversity is celebrated
4. “There will be no
hunger, there will be
no greed, and all the
children will know
how to read.”
5. How do we get there?
We're already on our
way...
6. 2012 has been the greatest year in the history of
the world. Never has there been less hunger,
less disease or more prosperity... people are
being lifted out of poverty at the fastest rate
ever recorded. The death toll inflicted by war
and natural disasters is also mercifully low.
We are living in a golden age.
The Spectator Magazine, Dec. 2012
The Spectator Magazine, Dec. 2012
The Spectator Magazine, Dec. 2012
11. A few words abut human
psychology and biases...
12. Some biases we all have or encounter...
Confirmation Bias
Bandwagon Effect
Negativity Bias
13. “If it bleeds, it leads”
We live in what some have called a “fear-based
media” world
14.
15. "If utopia does come, it won't be because
human nature changes, or because some
governmental authority or alien race forces it
upon us, but because we manage to create
new social structures more conducive to
satisfying human needs and values."
Dennis Fox, emeritus professor of psychology at
the University of Illinois at Springfield
24. “This generation of human beings has access to
more calories, watts, lumen-hours, square-feet,
gigabytes, megahertz, light-years, nano-meters,
bushels per acre, miles per gallon, food miles,
air miles, and, of course, dollars than any that
went before.”
from Abundance
31. “We're just beginning. We have wonders
ahead of us. I don't see how it can be any
other way, with the way the future is going.
We now have got a telescope up there,
photographing the universe. We're
inventing the next life form, the computer.
We're in the midst of it.
And it will happen."
And it will happen."
And it will happen."
And it will happen."
Confirmation bias is a tendency to gravitate towards materials and information that reinforces your personal worldview. Badnwagon effect is as it sounds - people tend to align with groups that share similar thoughts, and these thoughts of the collective group influence the individual. If you are around negative people, you will tend to have negative thoughts. Negativity bias is a tendency to give more credit and weight to bad news and less credibility to good news. “Things are getting worse!”
When you see all the negative news in the world, you think that there can never be peace in our time... Yet, murders are down, worldwide hunger is way down, standards of living are higher.
Want to become more optimistic? Then spend three weeks reading only tech news. Want to think the world is going to hell in a handbasket? Watch nothing but political news...
http://www.space.com/6656-star-trek-utopia.html
Lockheed Martin has developed technology that filters and purifys seawater with no electricity and a simple filter. This is HUGE in the third world.
Norman Ernest Borlaug was an American agronomist, humanitarian and Nobel laureate who has been called "the father of the Green Revolution" and "The Man Who Saved A Billion Lives"
Lab on a chip can do 50 medical tests with a few drops of blood
Computers are getting cheaper and faster. Raspberry Pi is $25. We are entering a century that there is a real possibility that computers can be wearable and embedded into clothing. Computers could be eventually be manufactured cheaper than it costs to make LEGO blocks!
In the next few years replicators can change the game - it will disrupt manufacturing, healthcare and lots more industries.
Video of statistician Hans Rosling talking at the TED conference - He has a slight accent
Will we ever see the end of money? The necessities of life are becoming cheap and accessible to allWe may never see the “end” of money, but with an increasing base standard of living we may lose the need to work to just “pay our bills”...And instead apply our time to have opportunities to grow and “better ourselves”... just like on Star Trek.
Microloans and micropayments are allowing entrepeneurs and small businesses in thirdworld countries to make a huge difference in people’s lives.
Gene’s Dream
Air and Space Museum
Shooting model of the Enterprise
Lobby Congress, invest in kickstarter campaigns, support startup companies, contribute to microfinancing to help raise the standards of living. Make the effort. Make the future REAL. MAKE IT HAPPEN.